It’s now the biggest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell electric police vehicles in the world

The London’s Metropolitan Police have taken charge of an 11 strong fleet of Toyota Mirai police cars, making it the biggest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell electric police vehicles in the world.

They’ve been delivered to the force and co-funded by the European Union’s joint programme with FCHJU (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking). The fleet of 11 cars will be used throughout the city.

Toyota are well known as a pioneer of hybrid powertrains and also launched the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell production car, the Mirai, back in 2015.

Within the car, the fuel cell powertrain mixes oxygen in the air with hydrogen from a tank to create electricity, which in turn powers a motor connected to the wheels at the front.

Toyota claims the Mirai police cars will cost almost half the price of a regular diesel police car to run and should in theory cover over 300 miles on a tank of fuel.

The Met have said that purchasing the 11 strong fleet of Mirai’s is in support of the Mayor of London’s push for cleaner air in the capital and the only tailpipe emissions that the Mirai produces is water.

The emergency services are aiming for London to be a zero-carbon city by the year 2050.

“We are delighted that the Met Police has added Mirai vehicles to its fleet. The distinctive livery of the Met’s marked cars means even more public visibility for hydrogen powered cars in and around London. This is proof that organisations are seeing the future of hydrogen power for zero emission fleets,” said Mark Roden, Director of Operations for Toyota GB.

The only potential issue that could arise from using the Mirai fleet is that there’s just five hydrogen filling stations available at the moment throughout the city but the numbers should increase in the very near future. Last year, Shell opened its first hydrogen refueling station.

The fleet of 11 Toyota Mirai’s will be rigged out so that the Met can use them as marked and unmarked police vehicles.

The electric motor in the Mirai is strong and even though the car is heavy it should still be quick enough – 0-60mph in 9.6 seconds, with a maximum speed of 111mph. The new police vehicle’s also include safety features such as city auto breaking, a pre-collision system, lane departure alert and a blind spot screen.

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